Sound technique · used in 4 films
Building an orchestral score from clashing sounds: string clusters, altered piano and percussion with no steady beat. It mirrors the main character's inner violence and gives you none of the usual emotional cues.
Examples
David Fincher · 1992
Elliot Goldenthal spent a year on the score, working closely with Fincher, and recorded it during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. He said that added to its disturbing tone. The music hangs over the planet like a warning.
Where to see it: The opening crash. The escape pod from the Sulaco crash-lands on Fiorina 161.
Paul Thomas Anderson · 2007
Jonny Greenwood's score uses orchestral sounds in unsettling ways and gives you no settled place to rest. It sounds like the oil itself: thick, under pressure and ready to burst. It gives you no comfort and no resolution, and it stays cold at the big dramatic moments. When Daniel wins, the music doesn't celebrate. The score is pretty much the film telling you honestly what you're watching.
Where to see it: The first oil fire. As the derrick burns, the orchestra erupts into violent noise. The music pays no attention to the people getting hurt.
Paul Thomas Anderson · 2017
Greenwood's score for Phantom Thread is his most conventionally beautiful, with lush strings and orchestration that suits the period. Under the elegant surface, it still has his typical dissonances (clashing notes) and harmonies that never resolve. The music mirrors the film: what looks like a love story has something stranger and more unsettling underneath.
Where to see it: The dressmaking sequences. Greenwood's score gives Reynolds's craft a musical dignity that is admiring and slightly wrong at the same time. The beauty has something uncomfortable beneath it.
Paul Thomas Anderson · 2025
Jonny Greenwood's score leans on discordant piano, sharp strings and percussion. Cues often run across several scenes, so the film rarely lets you settle. For the chase, editor Andy Jurgensen layered in strings as it built and cut some engine revs to the beat.
Where to see it: The chase finale. Strings pile up in layers as Tim closes the gap on Willa's car.
Questions
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